A German court on Thursday sentenced a prominent Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel to five years in prison for inciting racial hatred and denying that the Nazis killed millions of Jews.
Judges in the south-western city of Mannheim gave the 67-year-old the maximum sentence under German law after finding that Zündel had repeatedly denied the murder of six million Jews by the Nazis in World War II.
It said it had counted 14 instances on Zündel’s Internet homepage where he denied the historical facts of the Holocaust and incited anti-Semitism.
Zündel wrote a book titled “The Hitler We Loved and Why,” described the Nazi leader as a “man of peace” and helped to disseminate a range of anti-Semitic literature.
He lived in Canada for several decades and fell foul of authorities there for his anti-Semitic opinions. He was extradited to Germany in 2005.
His trial was marked by upheaval after one of his five lawyers had to be replaced after questioning the Holocaust in arguments in his client’s defense.
In his closing remarks, Zündel had called on the court to establish an international commission of experts to examine the Holocaust. He added that he would apologize to Jews and other victims if the commission confirmed that Jews had been gassed.
The German government, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, is trying to convince all other member states of the bloc to make denying the Holocaust an EU-wide crime.
(DW-World)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
10 Responses
Beware NK, we will have to bring you glatt kosher meals in the slammer.
Halevai there was such a statute in the United States.
ROCHEL — Laws like this are a double-edged sword. While Germany has some of the strictest hate-speech laws I have ever seen (a bit too late), these laws can be problematic for religious groups.
One of the issues that has come up with respect to proposed Canadian ate-speech laws is the fact that a Pastor (or Rabbi) speaking about the evils of, say, alternative lifestyle marriages [no need to edit me this time, YW], and stating that the bible calls this an abomination etc., can find himself charged for inciting hatred against a particular group.
As “nonsense” as this may sound, the fact is that there is no shortage of “alternative lifestyle-y” people being attacked, beaten etc. and the law would be there to protect them as much as Jews and other ethnic groups.
My point is that when we go too far in criminalizing the speech against us, we risk criminalizing some of our own speech.
CKY
There you go again! Holocaust denying is a very sensitive issue to us!
Please dont compare a speech against ‘alternative lifestyle’ to outright
ANTISEMITISM.
Alternate lifestyle is indeed an abomination to all religious groups. I really dont think people consider this ‘particular group’ as significant as Holocaust survivors . Denying or questioning a pivotel period in history which represented genocide and disdain for aparticular religion is not the same thing!
Its one thing to be critical of a people. Its another thing to mock their horrific past!
NAMELESS — You have gone too far. How dare you accuse me of mocking the Holocaust. For shame. You say that Holocaust denying is a very sensitive issue to “us.” Your “Lanu V’Lo L’Cha” reverse four-sons Hagaddah implication is offensive, and doesn’t reflect the fact that the side of my family that went through the war takes up far fewer tables at Simchas. Your comment is revolting.
I was simply conveying to the board some of the discussion that has taken place with respect to freedom of speech legislation. Of course, a Holocaust survivor and someone who wants to marry someone of the same gender are beyond compare. However, the same legislation that prevents people from inciting hatred against one does so for the other. This has proven to be a real worry for religious groups (primarily Christian) who want to ensure that their right to speak out against certain lifestyles based on the Bible is not impaired.
The point is not hard to understand; your attack, however, is.
CYK
Again, you might be right in theory but her comment was made due to her sensitivity for for ‘OURS’ and dismay for these disgraceful Holocaust deniers.
Every point can be made but the settting and situation has to be appropriate.
On a previous subject which involved the drunking arab driver who now seemed to be responsible for the death of an innocent Bachur, you implied that he could have been a decent person.Probalby not but even if that were the case, it was just not the time to give himl the benefit of the doubt.
Sorry if I came across a bit harsh but when it comes to the Holocaust I am very very sensitive as I am sure you are….
truce??
NAMELESS — Truce.
sayitlikeitis:
Don’t worry about glatt kosher prison meals for the NK. A couple of bananas a day are enough for them, except for little Freaky Freedy, who probably only needs a half a banana a week.
B’H, Shalom B’Yisroel. Now we can all be friends again.
forget about PC, let Ernst Zündel die in prison and go join his hero in the deepest pits of gehenom (spelling???)